HARTFORD — Deval Patrick of Massachusetts joined his fellow Democratic governor, Dannel P. Malloy, at a Jamaican bakery in the city's North End to highlight one of their marquee achievements: raising the minimum wage.

"No person working in America for 35, 40 hours a week should be living in poverty, and that's why it's very important we do these things,'' said Malloy, who signed the nation's first statewide law raising the hourly rate to $10.10 by 2017 in a series of increments.

Boosting the pay of low-income workers has a tangible impact on people's lives, said Patrick, who recently signed a bill raising the rate in Massachusetts to $11 an hour by 2017.

"This is not some academic thing; this is about what we … can do and should do to help lift people, or rather help people lift themselves,'' Patrick said. "It's a simple, straightforward act of good public policy and human decency.''

Raising the minimum wage has emerged as a potent talking point for Democrats across the nation. In addition to firing up union workers and other core members of the Democratic base, the issue resonates with recession-weary voters: A Quinnipiac University poll conducted in March found 3-to-1 support for the wage hike in Connecticut.

Daniela Altimari

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick joined Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy Friday in Hartford to celebrate the increased minimum wage in their two states.

Malloy has seized on the pay hike as another way to draw a contrast with his Republican opponent, Tom Foley, whom he has consistently attacked as an out-of-touch multimillionaire.

"My opponent does not support Connecticut's minumum wage,'' Malloy told reporters and a small gathering of supporters outside Scott's Bakery on Albany Avenue. "Tom Foley is not for working-class families; he would be a disaster for them."

Patrick underscored the message, saying Malloy has provided "the kind of leadership that isn't just about the well-connected.''

But Foley's campaign spokesman, Chris Cooper, said Friday that Foley backs the $10.10 rate, both in Connecticut and nationally.

In the past, Foley has said the state needs to act cautiously to ensure its minimum wage is not out-of-step with the rates set by other states. Foley also has suggested that the impact of a higher wage on businesses could be offset by provisions that exempt teen workers for the increase.

"Had he been involved in the crafting of the legislation, he would have wanted to consider if there were ways to mitigate the effect on small business in terms of job creation,'' Cooper said. "Tom has said he thinks it's an issue of basic fairness and he supports it … There's been a pattern of them [twisting] Tom's record on any number of things."

Boosting the state's minimum wage is often cited by Democrats as one of Malloy's top achievements. However, the governor was not always such an outspoken advocate of a higher wage. Less than three years ago, he said he supported the idea in theory but expressed concerns about the impact that raising the rate to $9 an hour would have on the state's businesses.

By last spring, Malloy had become an ethusiastic convert, welcoming President Obama to Connecticut to promote the higher rate.